Civil partnerships in Brighton

December 2005 was a milestone in the UK for gays and lesbians, when civil partnerships between same sex couples finally became a reality. As colourful Texan politician, Kinky Friedman, put it 'why not let 'em be as miserable as the rest of us'. Well quite! Although I'm not quite sure how I feel about being termed one of 'them'! Reminds me of a serial curtain twitcher called Gladys who used to live down my friend's road, who would pout knowingly, left eyebrow slightly raised, as she warned the milkman to keep his back to the wall at number 5, because the bloke inside was 'one of THEM'...

Thankfully, most of us have moved on since then and Brighon is such a gay mecca that I can now walk proudly down the street with a gay male friend as he brandishes a newly bought bright pink hyacinth to all and sundry. (Not that people take much notice in Brighton. Our Head of Tourism walked to work this week and passed a man dressed head to toe in a bright silver boiler suit and no-one batted an eyelid.) In fact, I became so caught up in my friend's delight at the prospect of 'enormous pink blooms' and gorgeous bursts of aromas' that I bought one too. I even named it. (It's called Henrietta.) Its now sitting proudly on my desk - vying for the accolade of possibly the campest thing this side of Supermarket Sweep.

Anyway, I digress, going back to my original point, if you're getting all amorous on the lead up to Valentines and are thinking of embarking on a civil partnership, Brighton is right up there in the top places to get one. Think we're only number 2 to London in fact... I mean, we've got a thriving 'gay quarter', gay and lesbian hotels and even a great big ornate Palace for goodness sake!

You can find out more about gay Brighton and civil partnerships here.

Sarah